Big Jump at Fountainhead

Hey,
Has anyone gone full speed off the wooden jump at Fountainhead? This is the down hill ramp that you can get tons of air off of. I think there is an "experts only" sign.

I want to launch off that thing but could use some advice from someone that has done so.
Should I use a full suss or a hard tail? clipless or regular pedals? should i pull up on the bars a little? i figure i'd hit it about 20 mph and dont want to ge too mangled.

I want to launch off that thing but could use some advice from someone that has done so.
Should I use a full suss or a hard tail? clipless or regular pedals? should i pull up on the bars a little? i figure i'd hit it about 20 mph and dont want to ge too mangled.

greg

Looking at the questions you've asked, you might want to start with something smaller and work up to full gas on that jump - unless you like the emergency room.

I've done it several times at max speed. Its doable, but kind of a flat landing if you're going fast. At moderate speeds its ok. Its basically like any other drop: keep the bike level and land both tires at once (or slightly rear wheel down).

You don't need a lot of speed to huck the entire thing. It's pretty easy, just keep the front end up. But as jabberwocky pointed out, it's a decent drop to flat which if you are running XC forks/shocks, they will take quite a hit.

Just hit it progressively faster until you are launching at warp speed. Might take a half a day to work up to that.

This drop is not one to hit at a moderate speed... I've seen, and talked to too many riders who hit it at a medium speed, cased it with the back wheel and got bucked over the bars. be careful of this.

Its truly not to flat, but is slightly downhill. the speed you roll into it from the lead in is a good speed. you dont need to hammer to gain speed, or scrub a lot with the brakes. you also dont need to yank the front end up, just keep the bike level, and land with both tires at once, a slight favor for a rear wheel landing is better than a nose down lander though.

Just hit it progressively faster until you are launching at warp speed. Might take a half a day to work up to that.

No, don't do that. Most crashes I've seen at that drop have been from people rolling it at a moderate speed and going OTB as a result. Roll it at slow speed or hit it going fast- there's no in between here.

I've hit it on both my HT and my FS bike. Obviously, FS is going to feel a hell of a lot better, but it's easy enough on a HT.

Also, if you're asking questions about what position you should keep your bars in, you may want to consider working your way up by hitting the other, smaller drops along the trail and getting comfortable with those first.

I rode that trail for the first time a few weeks ago on my SS. I had a lot of fun. (No, I didn't jump the big jump)It's kinda short, but two laps on the SS worked my fairly well. 2,000 for 16 miles is quite a bit. I also went down that old trail and was surprised at how steep it was. Was wondering what all the damn signs were for. LOL! Liked it so much that I did it on the second lap.
If I don't go out of town I plan to hit it Saturday afternoon if it's open. Hit me up if ya want ride. I am new here and have only ridden that trail. I'm not fast, but am a steady rider and can hammer occasionally. I just wanna have fun and riding trails is fun for me.
christopher dot randle at gmail

I rode that trail for the first time a few weeks ago on my SS. I had a lot of fun. (No, I didn't jump the big jump)It's kinda short, but two laps on the SS worked my fairly well. 2,000 for 16 miles is quite a bit. I also went down that old trail and was surprised at how steep it was. Was wondering what all the damn signs were for. LOL! Liked it so much that I did it on the second lap.

One full lap (not taking any by-passes) at FH on a SS is a pretty intense workout. Two is impressive.

I'm assuming you are referring to the old ShockOBilly. It's much more sketchy now with those small ladders in place than it was before with the old waterbars. The old SOB section used to be one of the best parts at FH until some d-bags decided to rip out the waterbars. Now we have those ridiculous ladders as a result...

I was out there today, and had a pretty funny "teachable moment" with some non-locals at that drop. My friend and I were off to the side about to push our bikes up and drop it again, and two guys joined us and were asking about it. I was explaining that the key was either to roll it slowly or send it and launch, and this guy came down the trail and said, "Oooh, a drop! I'm gonna do this nice and smooth!" and proceeded to roll it at that aforementioned bad in between speed. He promptly went OTB, landed on the back of his head and bounced off his back so hard his bike flew about three feet in front of him.

It was one of those crashes that there's only one of two possible outcomes: the rider is either totally fine with nothing more than a bruised ego, or they're hopelessly screwed. Fortunately, it was the former, and we all had a laugh at it at the side of the trail (including the guy who crashed.) However, he did split his helmet in two in the back.

The drop itself is really easy from a technical point of view- you just have to commit to it.

I know of a couple broken collarbones, an elbow, and a nose, and some ribs from that ramp. I hit it the first time the week it opened, and jabberwocky is exactly right in that there is no in between speed. Either roll it so slow you are embarrased to be seen doing it, or commit to launching it with decent speed. I tried a middle speed and almost joined the elite group of people with broken bones.

+1 on removing the ramp all together and just making it a drop. The few times I've seen people crash on it was when they tried to roll it. There's already a ride-around for anyone who doesn't want to do the drop.

I disagree that you need much speed to make the drop though. A couple of pedal strokes is more than enough (but that is already too much to roll it).

Just throwing this here - Fountainhead posted this PDF, detailing the upcoming work on the back trails. I hope they make it a real challenge, but fun. Right now it's a real challenge, but it's not much fun in my opinion.

First time I came up to this drop, I initially figured I'd scope it out first, but as I slowed up before it, realized it was no big deal, let the brakes go and dropped it. Since then, I've hit it with more speed, which is fun, get a bit more air.

Not sure I understand the whole "medium speed won't work" thing being passed around. Not that hard to get enough speed - you don't even have to pedal into it. Just coming down the hill to it can get you enough speed. That said, my friend didn't have quite enough to clear it the first time and his rear wheel landed on the end of the bridge, but no big deal, didn't cause a crash. (he was a fs)

Haven't taken my rigid ss out there since it's been up. Will have to attempt it on it.

It's a boardwalk drop, not a jump - so it's not like the "ramp" compresses the bike's suspension and then launches it upon suspension extension and therefore speed/timing is critical.

Its more an issue of people coming up at medium speed and leaning forward expecting to roll it (since it has a down ramp), but instead launching it (because the down ramp is steep) and endoing. At low speeds its an easy roller, at high speeds its a small drop. Theres an in-between that doesn't work very well though.

I just hope that whatever they have planned for the black loop, they cut out this "ramp" nonsense on features and just make proper doubles/tables/drops/etc. I know ramps like this one on the drop and the ones on old Shockabilly are meant to make it seem more beginner friendly, but all they've done is just made things more sketchy in a bad way.